Indonesia: Fighting corruption

3 July 2012. A website named Korupedia.org was launched on 19 June 2012. It proved to be an instant success with some 2 million visitors in the first week. The portal aims to name and shame corrupt people. It displays the name and photo of a hundred or so people convicted of corruption along with details of the case, like the sentences received or how much money they took in bribes.

According to NGO Transparency International, Indonesia is one of the country’s worst hit by corruption. It is not surprising that the project has met with some opposition. Hackers have apparently been trying to hack into the website on a daily basis to wipe the data.

But the site’s success does reflect a desire within civil society to put an end to this graft culture and corruption at all levels of the civil service. When parliament recently refused to increase the budget to Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission, the KPK, a group of people decided to lend their support.

They are asking the general public for donations to help finance this organization which needs, in particular, new headquarters. To play their part and do their bit in the fight against corruption, millions of street vendors have committed, via their trade union, to contribute 1,000 rupees each, that’s around 10 euro cents.